Would you date a guy like the Croc Hunter?

In My Humble Opinion
61

Context is everything.

If someone said to me, “If I see a spider in this room, I want it killed! I don’t want anyone to talk about how harmless they are, or how beneficial they are. I just want it killed!”, you can be sure my hackles would be raised – and I think that many people would feel the same way. After all, should we really be demanding our own way, even when we know that we can’t argue for it convincingly?

On the other hand, if someone said, “If we see a spider, I really need someone to kill it. I’m not kidding here, 'cuz I have a real phobia of spiders,” then I think people would be a lot more understanding.

Ultimately, that’s what happened here. If the former approach had been presented, a lot of this misunderstanding could have been avoided.

I don’t think that’s fair. Nobody’s criticizing her simply because she hates spiders. Some may criticize her for wanting them dead, or for her remarks about Croc Hunter, but that’s not the same thing.

BTW, I’m not a Croc Hunter fan. His shows usually bore me, except when he talks about snakes – and even then, I don’t usually watch his entire show.
Also, FTR, I think that remarks like,

and:

to which you correctly object, were made in response to the insinuations that he’s some kind of idiot due to his antics. As I said, I’m not a Croc Hunter fan by any means, but even I thought that was out of line. Calling him “an annoying fuckgit” is also unnecessary, IMHO. It’s one thing to say that we find him annoying, but the whole “fuckgit” business strikes me as stepping over a line.

62

Since I’m male, the Crocodile Hunter does not interest me at all. However, I would love to see who kills the spiders that get into the house. Assuming he and his wife live in one.

63

Um, in case it wasn’t clear, I meant that insinuating that he’s an idiot was out of line (although the comment about being “irrationally fearful” could certainly have been more tempered).

Y’know, as a reptile lover it occurs to me that I would take umbrage if someone were to make similar remarks about snakes. (“I don’t want to hear about how most snakes are non-poisonous! I just want them dead!”) To be honest, there were several times when I have been irritated by such cracks. It kinda like saying, “I don’t care about the facts. I want someone to do as I say.” (Now I’m not saying that the spider-haters here are adopting that exact position. However, I hope you can see how such demands would be perceived.)

It’s something to think about. An animal lover might not take lightly to the words, “I don’t want to hear about it” (or statements to that effect) – especially when they’re appealing to reason and pleading for the animal’s life.

64

This thread is not about cazzle and her fear of spiders. Drop that part of the conversation(which was getting too personal in my opinion), and get back to the OP.

65

This isn’t really getting back to the OP, but I’m with Little Bird. In the purely hypothetical (Corwin’s married and I’m engaged to the ultimate LoveBunny) Jeff Corwin better watch out 'cuz Zen’s in “jungle cat” mode when the “Experience”'s switched on. [Low growl…] I wouldn’t date Irwin, I used to think he was amusing, but lately he just seems so loud. Maybe it’s the jungle cat in me [jaguar ears twitched back in annoyance]. Another irritating naturalist is on Discovery–Nigel the Nimrod…I don’t think you know what “brilliant!” means. Some guy spent 12 years making this awesome film on the Honey Badger, and THAT’S your comment. Whatever.
But watching Corwin is like me and the Food Network, I just hop up and down, “I wanna do that! I wanna do that!”